Electronic Logs are a Joke

I have found that I have more time not less, the driver deterines if waiting in on duty or off, should make no difference if your legal to start with. And if your not running legal carring fuel then your foolish.

 

Here in lies the problem. There are not enough terminals in the upper mid-west. There isn't a way to streamline the process, with most major player customers playing the market... as does the pipeline middle men.

You are correct that there are solutions... The refineries and big oil could open several more tier 2 and 3 terminals. However, this cost would run into the billions(who do you think will pay for it?). If you have hauled fuel, you are well aware that the infrastructure simply isn't there in the upper midwest currently.

"Not sure how it is going to drive up fuel costs from the mid $3 range I pay now, to over $5 just because of the increase in cost to move the stuff from terminal to pump"? Really?
Costs More for transport---> Customer and wholesalers pay more -----> Thus, they charge more... Within this structure... Lead times are longer----> more trucks in already crowded terminals----> reducing ability to play market prices----> again increasing costs to wholesalers ----> demanding an increase in end sale costs.

There is nobody to take it over, other carriers are in the same situation.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4183029]It's funny when I hear about e-logs, and how stringent the rules have become, I can't help but reflect how different the times are. When I started in the '70's, I would fold a paper log book in half, and slam it in the door, to keep the door from rattling. Every week or 2, my boss would say, "You know, we haven't got a log from you in a while, could you scratch some lines, and hand it in?" Even at scales, I never remember being asked for a logbook, but the scalemasters then were usually soon-to-be retired state troopers, and couldn't care less about your logs, only weight. Ah, the good ol' days.[/QUOTE]
My mom's cousin was a bullhauler in those days. Said the DOT back then didn't bother. He used to run 3-4 days nonstop between the meat plants north of Denver and Texas.

 

Well, it will all be fun to see. I myself, could care less if fuel goes to $10 a gallon. I always adjust fuel surcharge on a weekly basis on my loads. And at $5 a gallon, based on the FSC calculation, and the mpg my truck averages, fuel would cost me donuts at $5 a gallon. Take it higher, and then I am actually making more than the fuel costs me. Pays to have a system in place that the customer agrees to. I'll leave it to the terminals and the haulers to figure it all out. Fuel is not in the top tier of things I worry about. It is, as everyone else, the largest single cost I have, but as the price goes up, so does the FSC, and it does so in such a way that there is a break even point, and if fuel cost goes higher, I actually have net reduction in actual out of pocket.

Still not worried about the e-log thing. There will be hiccups early on if everyone has to use them, but it will all work out. the same sky is falling arguments were going around in '91 over the new CDL requirement, then in 2003 with the first major HOS change, and every time there is another change, all of a sudden it will be the death of trucking. The tenacity of American business to find a solution to a stumbling block has always amazed me.

 

I hate e-logs!!!
That is all...